Another brain buster problem!

Almost everyday in our line of work we encounter unusual problem(if not difficult),just recently I encountered a problem in a XPC Shuttle CPU which is a BIOS Boot Block situation(refer to image), it is a socket 939 with a 1GB DDR1 Corsair Mem(take note-its branded).

By looking the screen when you turn on the unit, you will say that its a corrupted BIOS(its an Award BIOS)program.Basically BIOS program in newer motherboards is divided into two blocks, these are the bootblock and the mainblock.The bootblock loads up if it will sense a damage mainblock portion of the bios.The mainblock is the one that will start when you power up your CPU.The purpose of the bootblock portion is, for you to have a chance to flash you BIOS mainblock so that your PC becomes operational again.

So to cut my story short I downloaded the specific BIOS bin of the particular model and flash the BIOS using the Award Flash utility software, everything went fine during the flashing of the new bios program, but after resetting the CPU it just came back from where I started(refer to image). I try to flash different latest version of BIOS files several times, still it does not work.

I give up troubleshooting and assumed that the BIOS chip itself maybe damage and it needs to be replace.While still looking for a BIOS chip replacement,I decided to transfer its existing memory on another system.And to my surprise the system also display an "Award Bios bootblock ..... please insert system disk......",I inserted a different memory module of the problematic PC and it works normally.

In my entire life as technical support, this is just the first time that I encounter a memory module causing a bios bootblock situation----take note---- its not just an ordinary memory module, its a popular brand.So, next time if your planning to buy a branded memory, choose the right one to avoid problems such this one.